Neue Nationalatlanten : Japan und DDR

Summary

From the perspective of a geographer and map author, this review compares two recently published national atlases: the Atlas of the German Democratic Republic (first installment) and the completed Atlas of Japan. The analysis covers overall concept, thematic emphasis, and graphic design of individual map sheets. Both atlases follow a traditional sequence—overview, physical geography, population, and economic sectors—but diverge in focus: the DDR atlas stresses production in a socialist context, while the Japanese atlas gives greater weight to services, social conditions, and cultural institutions. Noteworthy differences include the use of sheet versos: the DDR atlas employs multilingual legends and supplementary information, serving as a translation aid for geographic terms, whereas the Japanese atlas uses both sides for maps and provides separate, detailed text-and-graphic commentaries that form a compact geographic encyclopedia, albeit with an unfamiliar official transliteration system. Graphically, the Japanese atlas features restrained colours and fine drawing with excellent print quality, relying mainly on choropleth maps and conventional symbols, though effective flow maps depict internal commodity movements. The DDR atlas is more innovative, offering creative combinations of point, line, and area elements (e.g., a road-network map with coloured density indicators), novel symbols such as a clock-face representation of frost-free period duration, and unusual themes like weed associations. Both atlases are highly stimulating and reward thorough study, each excelling in distinct ways—the Japanese atlas in encyclopedic depth and aesthetic refinement, the DDR atlas in graphic inventiveness and thematic originality.